Child on the Mall

It’s the week before Christmas on the local mall at the height of holiday buy-season. It is late—near closing, which is 11pm. Of course, the storefronts are adorned to the max in festive holiday décor. The opulent commercialism doesn’t bother me a bit.

Admiration from Afar

The 2010 Census recorded 21.8 million veterans in the United States. As I pondered for this post, it struck me humble how few Vets I know personally. I mean there are acquaintances and friends-of-friends who Served. And no doubt others in my purview are Vets, but I am unaware of it. Still, my first hand exposure to this Honorable Lot is few and far between. I am not at all connected.

Pondering on and on

It was early in my hard of hearing adventure. I was still reeling from being suddenly stricken. I was queasy and despondent, trudging each day with ever fading hope that my hearing would somehow miraculously return. The doctors already assured me that it would not.

Holding on to false hope when you know it is false is a terrible place to be.

But I kept waiting. Holding on to false hope when you know it is false is a terrible place to be. I was physically whipped, having suffered multiple bouts of vertigo that rendered me ever off balance and, it seemed, perpetually nauseous from the spins. So strange. Motion sickness without the motion. Ugh. I felt so sick. So defeated. Read more →

Speaker Match

I recently joined (Note: originally written in August, 2011) a public speaker’s forum on LinkedIn, called SpeakerMatch. There, I navigated to a discussion string which proffered the following for comment:

There are a million people who share YOUR story. What makes you stand out as a speaker? Why should anyone hire you? What makes you stand out?

Speech transcript on “Real About Diversity” first delivered to the Tri-State Human Resource Management Association Diversity Program (October 26, 2012). Learn more about this keynote & view presentation slides here.

Until I did it for me

I ponder the numbers a lot these days. —25 years of distinguished service in human resource management, overseeing employment of thousands of people. Yet I never came across a job candidate who was deaf or hard of hearing that was apparent or known to me. And I never, not even once, directed workplace accommodations or otherwise assisted an employee who I knew to be deaf or severely hard of hearing. Of that great honor, I had zero experience.

Until I did it for me! Since losing hearing in June 2010, I served as Vice President of Human Resources and lived the experience in the workplace. Oh what humble paradox that this was my stock-in-trade!